I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable information device, such as a mobile phone set or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and, more specifically, to a folding-type portable information device provided with an image capturing function.
II. Description of the Related Art
Some of the portable information devices such as a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), are compact, multi-functional, and foldable, and are provided with an image capturing function such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device).
A mobile phone set shown in FIG. 16 is an example of the portable information device with a camera in the related art. The portable information device 31 includes a first housing 32 and a second housing 36 connected with each other via a hinge unit 35 so as to be capable of rotating and varying the angle c between front surfaces 32a and 36a. The first housing 32 includes a display unit 33 and a receiving unit 34 on the front surface 32a thereof, and the second housing 36 includes a control unit 37 and a transmitting unit 38 on the front surface 36a thereof. The device can be downsized by folding the first housing 32 and the second housing 36 so as to bring the front surfaces 32a and 36a into abutment with each other, and thus the device has improved portability. The user can talk on the phone by opening the first housing 32 and the second housing 36, placing the receiving unit 34 on the first housing 32 near the user's ear and placing the transmitting unit 38 on the second housing 36 near the user's mouth.
The second housing 36 includes a camera unit 40, and a window 39 of the camera unit 40 for photographing an object 50 is provided on a backside 36b of the second housing 36. The backside 36b is on the side opposite from the front surface 36a and is parallel with the front surface 36a. When the device is switched to a camera mode in a state in which the first housing 32 and the second housing 36 are opened, the image of the object framed by the window 39 is taken into the camera unit 40 and is displayed on the display unit 33, and photographed by pressing a shutter button on the control device 37.
The reference numeral 41 designates a battery built in the second housing 36. Numeral 42 designates an antenna provided in the second housing 36, and numeral 43 designates a circuit board having a control section, storage section, and a wireless section.
As shown in FIG. 16, in the portable information device 31 provided with a folding mechanism, which is constructed of the first housing 32 and the second housing 36, the first housing 32 takes a slanted position with respect to the second housing 36 when the first housing 32 and the second housing 36 are opened in consideration of the positional relationship between an ear and a mouth of the user during a telephone call.
Therefore, when the window 39 of the camera unit 40 is directed toward the object 50 for photographing the object using the camera unit 40 provided in the portable information device 31 shown in FIG. 16, the display unit 33 on the first housing 32 becomes slanted with respect to the window 39 of the camera unit 40, and the display surface 33a of the display unit 33 is disposed diagonally with respect to the line of sight of the user. Therefore, the object 50 displayed on the display unit 33 cannot be seen clearly and thus, it is difficult to pickup the object 50 accurately for image-capturing.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, a device in which the camera unit 40 is disposed in the first housing 32, and the window 39 of the camera unit 40 is disposed on the backside 32b of the first housing 32 opposite from the front surface 32a in parallel with the front surface 32a is also proposed.
Since the camera unit 40 is disposed in the first housing 32, on which the display unit 33 is provided, and the window 39 of the camera unit 40 is provided on the backside 32b disposed in parallel with the front surface 32a having the display unit 33 thereon, the display surface 33a of the display unit 33 can be disposed perpendicularly to the line of sight of the user simply by directing the window 39 toward the object 50. Therefore, the image of the object 50 displayed on the display unit 33 can be observed easily, and the object 50 can be picked up accurately for image-capturing. However, in recent years, while there is a growing need for compact portable information devices 31, there is also a need for displaying a larger quantity of information on the display unit 33 in this multimedia age. Therefore, when the camera unit 40 is disposed in the first housing 32, on which the display unit 33 is disposed, a large display unit 33 cannot be accommodated on the first housing 32, and thus, the need described above cannot be satisfied easily.
A device having a camera unit integrated in the hinge unit, or in a revolving body provided rotatably with respect to the housing is also proposed (JF-A-2002-94629 or JP-A2002-125008)
Such folding-type portable information device provided with the image capturing function in the related art includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, a folding-type portable information device 202 provided with an image capturing function. The portable information device 202 includes a first housing 204 on the upper side and a second housing 206 on the lower side connected via a hinge unit 208 (connecting unit) so as to be capable of folding and opening through a rotary movement with respect to each other.
The hinge unit 208 is provided with an image capturing unit 210, and the image capturing unit 210 is coaxial with the axis of rotation of the hinge unit 208 and is capable of rotating independently by manual operation, and thus the image capturing direction of the image capturing unit 210 can be adjusted manually.
The first housing 204 is provided with an image display surface 212 (image display unit) for displaying a captured image on the inner surface 204a thereof. As a different type from such a folding-type mobile phone set 202 provided with the image capturing function, there is a device in which the image capturing unit 210 is provided not on the hinge unit 208, but on the outer surface of the first housing 204 in such a manner that the image capturing direction is fixed.
Generally, since the folding-type mobile telephone set 202 provided with the image capturing function does not have a finder in the image capturing unit 210, the image supplied from the image capturing unit 210 is displayed on the image display surface 212. Therefore, when the user uses the image capturing unit 210, the user captures images while confirming the image capturing direction or the image to be captured by observing the image display surface 212.
When performing operations without talking on the phone, such as Web browsing, data communication, or e-mailing, using such a folding-type mobile phone set 202 provided with the image capturing function, the phone set is placed on a horizontal plane such as a table in such a manner that the folding angle formed between the first housing 204 and the second housing 206 ranges from about 90° to about 120°, as shown in FIG. 18.
Accordingly, the user can easily operate the keys 209 provided on the second housing 206 while viewing the image display surface 212, and thus, the operability of various functions of the folding-type mobile phone set provided with the image capturing function, such as Web browsing, is improved.
When the image capturing direction of the image capturing unit 210 is directed toward the user by manual operation, the user can take a picture of the user himself/herself without using his/her hand and send the image to a portable information device on the other party, or use the device as a TV-phone. With such a usage, the user can take his/her own picture while observing the image display surface 212.
When capturing images of things other than the user, such as the surrounding landscape, the folding angle is generally opened to an angle between about 160° and about 180°, and then the image capturing direction of the image capturing unit 210 is directed to the substantially same direction as a line of sight E of the user shown in FIG. 18. Then the user holds the folding-type mobile phone set 202 provided with the image capturing function with his/her own hand, and captures an image while observing the image capturing direction or the image to be captured on the image display surface 212.
However, in the folding-type portable information device 202 provided with the image capturing function described above, the user must operate to change the image capturing direction of the image capturing unit 210 depending on the case in which he/she performs data communication or he/she captures his/her own image, and the case in which he/she captures images of things other than the user. In addition, since the angles are slightly different every time, the operation cannot be consistent and thus, the operability is not good.
Since the hinge unit of the portable information device is complex in construction and includes wiring therein, it is very difficult to dispose the camera unit therein. Even when the camera unit can be disposed in the hinge unit, there arises another problem in that the hinge unit is forced to be upsized, and thus it becomes unbalanced with respect to the size of the housing. Furthermore, there is a possibility that its design properties (appearance) become damaged.
On the other hand, the device having the camera unit integrated in the revolving body, which is provided separately from the housing, a rotating mechanism for the revolving body is required in addition to the hinge unit, and thus, the construction becomes complex and the number of components increases, which may cause a problem in assemblability.
The same problems exist not only in the mobile telephone, but also in the portable information device such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) having a folding mechanism.